The Walking Dead season 10 episode 9 recap: Squeeze

As they continue their walk, they come to a part of the cave that has been reinforced by beams, perhaps as a mining shaft. Connie warns them that if they take out the wrong piece the whole place will collapse.

Alpha marches through the camp. Beta reports that Gamma has not returned and he sent four people to find her. He believes something happened to her. Alpha posits that she is the spy. He tells Alpha that he will kill her if she betrayed them, but she wants Gamma back alive. She tells Beta to find her.

Back in the cave, they find mining gear all over. Kelly finds a box of dynamite and takes a stick of it to show the group. Jerry sees that it’s damp and he tells her to put it back very carefully. Connie finds an old birdcage (birds were used to test for gases) while Magna rushes to find a way out. She admits to Aaron that she didn’t leave things in a good place with Yumiko and he wants to make things right.

Alpha finds Negan working on his task and assigns another Whisperer to take over while she speaks with him. He jokes that “mom” is mad at him. He follows her into a clearing, with her behind him telling him to keep going.

He says that this feels like a fraternity hazing or initiation ritual so he can get his skin suit. He keeps talking, telling her that he is not good with silence. She tells him to stop, telling him to keep his eyes to the front. He curses, thinking he’s in trouble. Then she tells him to take his clothes off.

As he complies, he realizes that he might be in bigger trouble than he realized. He gives a speech saying that he realizes now that they are different. He made himself into a monster because the world needed it. He built the Sanctuary to save people, and his name meant something.

She tells him to turn around, and when he does he finds that she’s naked, save for her skin mask. She acknowledges that he is “crass” and might appreciate a crass reward for his insight on Gamma being the spy. She wants to express her gratitude by giving him a reward that works on his terms. He wonders if she is going to keep her skin on, and he admits it kind of turns him on.

Before they get much farther, he asks if this is a praying mantis situation where she will end up killing him in the end, but she doesn’t answer. For Negan, it has been so long since he’s been with a woman that he’s willing to take his chances.

Alpha grasps his head and tells him to stop talking. As the camera pans away, their naked bodies are pressed together.

In the cave, they make a hole big enough for Kelly to poke her head through. She tells them they need a little bit more. Daryl looks around and sees that Carol is missing. He goes back into the cave to find her.